Digital Image Editing Software

SUMMARY: Another free image editing tool and a great complement to Photoscape.

I reviewed Photoscape Image Editor earlier and some readers alerted me to Paint.NET, another free image editing program. Don’t confuse this with Windows Paint – it’s far superior. What’s also a nice asset is a Forum that users can access which includes a very nice section on Plug-Ins for additional effects.

Paint.NET has features that are not available in Photoscape, most notably working with layers and a “clone”
tool – very handy for eliminating unwanted details.

The opening screen is similar to Photoshop:

Paint.Net uses layers, a nice feature for building image effects:

Adjustments are very similar to Photoshop – Sepia is a very nice touch:

Effects include a whole host of interesting filters:

Lots of help options, including on-line Tutorials:

An Example

Here’s an image I took in Ireland:

Two clicks – Automatic Adjustment and the filter Soften Portrait – and the image is changed to something more to my liking:

One click to turn it into a sepia image:

Now here’s where the two image editing programs complement each other – Photoscape’s filters to simulate an antique photo put the finishing touches to this image:

CONCLUSIONS

Between the two free programs Photoscape and Paint.Net, users can edit digital images which rival pay programs; not Photoshop, but unless you’re really into some very esoteric editing, these two programs should nicely meet your requirements – and at a terrific price!